


Happy Birthday

by Lilith_In_The_Garden



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Happy Birthday, It's 4/13 y'all!, They kids deserve this tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-14
Updated: 2018-04-14
Packaged: 2019-04-22 14:19:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14310558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilith_In_The_Garden/pseuds/Lilith_In_The_Garden
Summary: A young man stands in his bedroom. It just so happens that today, the 13th of April, 2018, is this young man's birthday. Though it was twenty two years ago he was given life, it is only today he will be given a name!What will the name of this young man be?Your name is JOHN EGBERT.





	Happy Birthday

A young man stands in his bedroom. It just so happens that today, the 13th of April, 2018, is this young man's birthday. Though it was twenty two years ago he was given life, it is only today he will be given a name!

What will the name of this young man be?

Your name is JOHN EGBERT. As was previously mentioned it is your BIRTHDAY. Despite this, there isn’t a single CAKE in your apartment. You have a variety of INTERESTS. You have a passion for REALLY TERRIBLE MOVIES, though a few years ago, you at least realized how terrible those movies were. You like to program computers but you are NOT VERY GOOD AT IT. You have a fondness for PARANORMAL LORE, and are an aspiring AMATEUR MAGICIAN. You also like to play GAMES sometimes. In the past two years, you’ve been a lot more careful about which games you play.

What will you do?

Right now, you are cleaning up. Your friends are coming over in a bit to hang out and celebrate. Meeting up in person is something you guys don’t do often enough. It’s weird; back on Earth, you all only knew each other online. None of you had met face to face before. Then you started that game, and you and Jade were stuck far away from Rose and Dave. When you all finally met, of course you were happy, but it only lasted a little bit before the shit hit the fan. And once you got to Earth-C...suddenly, you were back to messaging online. Sure, you met up from time to time, but it wasn’t very often.

That kind of stuff makes you sad, so you try not to think about it too much. At least you’re all going to hang out today, right? And speaking of which, you can hear someone knocking. Your first guest has arrived.

You float over to the door - you could walk, but honestly, you’re used to this now, and it’s fun - and pull it open. It looks like Dave is the first one to arrive. In the two years since you beat the game, he’s gradually gotten a lot more comfortable with himself. He doesn’t need the shades you gave him all those years ago anymore. Yet, he still wears them tucked into the collar of his shirt everywhere he goes. Honestly, it means a lot to you.

“Dave! You made it!” You give him a toothy grin, and he actually smiles back. Not a little one pixel smile, but a genuinely happy one.

“Of course man, you know I wouldn’t miss this for the world.” He steps inside, hands in his pockets. You’d half expected him to bring Karkat - the two of them are pretty much joined at the hip - but you’d wanted it to just be the four of you, and he honored that.

He turns to grin at you as you land. “Happy Birthday, dude. Man, twenty-two. I can’t fucking believe it. Dude, you’re fucking _old.”_

“Hey!” You cross your arms, but you’re still smiling. “You turned twenty-two five months ago! You’re the old guy here.”

Dave snorts, holding up his hands defensively. “Alright, alright. _We’re_ old.” He pulls out his phone and uncapchalogs a mini speaker, taking only a few seconds to set them up and start playing some music that [MAKES YOU FEEL INCREDIBLY NOSTALGIC](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6LcnuowRc0&list=PLAC06D81A39049ACA). You’re not quite sure. You guess it kind of reminds you of your childhood for some reason. Huh.

“So, how are things going with...Dirk?”

You hesitate, smile fading. “Oh no, Dave, are you still uncomfortable about us dating? I thought you said you were okay with it!”

“I am! I am, I just…” He looks away, rubbing the back of his neck. “...I don’t know, man. I’m happy that you’re happy, y’know? I really am. It’s just a lot to get used to, having your best bro date your...brother? Who’s also kind of your biological father? But also your son? Who was also, like, not a great person in a different timeline? Don’t get me wrong, I know Dirk’s not like that, he’s cool and stuff, it’s just...I dunno. I’m still adjusting, I guess. But I really am happy for you guys.”

You’re quiet for a moment. Oh jeez, now you feel kind of bad. You know this has been a big change for all of you. You know first hand how hard it can be to adjust. And you know that Dave’s relationship with his brother on Earth hadn’t been the best. And here you are now, pressuring him to just magically be okay with all of this.

“...Sorry, Dave. Yes, Dirk and I are happy together! Though you’re wrong about him being cool, he is a total dork!” That gets Dave to crack a smile, right in time for the door behind you to be knocked on again. Hm, that was fast.

You open the door again, and this time it’s Jade out there, carrying two big boxes. “John! Happy Birthday!” She moves forward as if to hug you, then pauses to consider the boxes in her arms. After a moment, she shakes her head, moving inside to set the boxes down on your kitchen counter before turning and hugging you, squeezing hard enough that you worry for a moment that she’s going to break your ribs. She lets go before she can, though, and hugs Dave as well. He turns blue as she squeezes him.

“Thanks, Jade. I’m glad you could make it to this!” You grin at her. It’s crazy; if it hadn’t been for Jade messaging you, none of you ever would have met. You can’t even begin to imagine how different things would have been if that happened. You all might, quite plausibly, be dead. It’s honestly amazing how big a difference something as small as that would have made.

“Of course I made it!” She lets go of Dave, letting him wheeze as she moves to open one of the boxes she’d brought. “And I brought cupcakes!” Sure enough, the box is filled with what looks like expertly made cupcakes. “I was going to make them myself, but then I accidentally burned them, and I didn’t have the ingredients to make any more, and Jane offered to make some for us! I felt really bad about it, but she said she really liked baking anyways, and she was making her own cake, so she just made more batter than she needed and made these with what she had left! Isn’t that so nice of her?”

Back to the topic of ‘getting used to things’. It’s still kind of weird to you that Jane is somehow both your nanna and also your grandchild? But either way, she didn’t have to go out of her way to make cupcakes for you. You know it’s her birthday today too - you’d called this morning to tell her happy birthday yourself! Funnily enough, she’s doing the same thing as you - having a get together with her three closest friends, who she’d also never met in person before the game. She tells you some wild stories about the day they met up for the first time. “Yeah, Jane’s pretty great. Remind me to call and say thank you!”

Jade laughs, holding the other box out towards you. “Here, I got this for you. Open it.”

You pause, staring at the wrapped box as you take it from her. “You didn’t have to get me anything…” you insist as you tear the wrapping paper off. Soon enough, the paper is gone, and you find yourself staring at a magician’s kit.

Jade smiles sheepishly. “You used to be so into magic and tricks and stuff. I thought maybe you’d want to try getting back into it. I know it always made you happy.”

You’re dumbfounded as you stare at the box, and by the time you look up, you’re grinning from ear to ear. “Jade, this says for ages six to twelve.”

Her eyes widen. “It does? Oh no! Here, I’ll take it back, see if I can exchange it-” She reaches for the box, but you hold it away from her.

“Are you kidding? Don’t you dare take this back, this is perfect.” You tear the plastic covering off of the box and open it, grabbing the first thing inside - a magician’s tophat that’s clearly way too small for you. You rest it on top of your head anyways. “Tada!”

Your friends laugh, and Dave reaches into his jacket, retrieving something from his inside pocket. It’s a messily wrapped little box. He holds it out to you. “I almost forgot, I got you something too. Here.”

You set down the magician’s box, taking Dave’s present and tearing the wrapping off. It takes a little longer, since it’s very thoroughly taped up to hold all the paper in place. Eventually, though, you’re left holding a Con Air DVD. You stare at Dave, stunned. “Oh, no way. I didn’t know this even _existed_ on Earth-C!”

“It didn’t.” He shakes his head, looking pretty proud of himself. “I alchemized it. And, for the record, it took forever to figure out what items to use to do it.”

You grin, moving to your television. “Well, you know how we’re about to spend the next two hours and three minutes. Or maybe four hours and six minutes!”

Dave groans. “I knew I should have waited until I was leaving to give that to you.” Despite his words, he moves over to sit on your couch. Jade starts to follow suit when someone knocks on the door again. You start to get up from your spot on the floor where you’d been setting up the DVD, but she waves you aside.   
“I’ve got it!” She skips off to the door. By the time you’re done setting everything up, she’s back, Rose in tow.

“So sorry I’m late. Had to make sure Kanaya would be alright with the grubs until I got back. You know how it is.” She smiles apologetically.

Actually, none of you know how it is. She and Kanaya are the only ones who are married. They have kids, even. You’re happy for her, though. She seems a lot happier than she used to when you were kids, back when she spent all her time talking about how her mother was patronizing her or whatever it was that she’d convinced herself.

Plus, you think she’s kind of inspired all of you. You and Dirk started dating not long after her wedding, and Dave told you pretty recently that he was thinking about proposing to Karkat. Even Jade, who’s not in any sort of romantic relationship (though you’ve seen the looks she gives to Davepeta. Who knows how much longer she’ll stay single?) seems a lot happier with life since the wedding. You guess it’s just kind of reassuring that after everything that went down, things can still be normal. You can all still have lives, families. You still get to grow up at your own pace.

You grin at Rose, waving her over. She too is carrying a gift box. “Hey, no worries about being a little late. At least you came at all.”

Her smile becomes warmer as she approaches, holding the box out to you. “I did indeed. And I didn’t come empty handed.”

You take the box, removing the lid. You take a moment to stare at the object inside, trying to make sure you’re seeing right. Finally, you slowly remove the knit bunny from the box. “Rose, this is…”

She shrugs. “I know your old rabbit...or, um, Liv Tyler...went through...a lot. Consider this a new beginning. A chance to start over, make some new memories.”

You tear your gaze away from the rabbit in your hand, staring at her. You can’t even crack any jokes. “...Thank you, Rose. Really.”

“Aww, Rose!” Jade coos, and Dave echos, though he sounds a lot more joking.

“Yeah, aww, Rose! When are you going to make one for me?” She shoots Dave a look, settling down beside him. You sit on his other side, Jade next to you. You can barely fit together on this couch, but no one dares to move away, much happier squishing together.

“Why would I do that when you already have Karkat to cuddle up with every night?” Rose questions calmly. The words are enough to have Dave going red.

“Better to curl up with your boyfriend than with piles of wizard erotica.” No it’s Rose’s turn to blush.

You quickly interrupt before she can counter. “Hey, guys, shh! The movie’s starting!”

Surprisingly, they actually quiet down. You watch the movie in peace, then spend the next several hours joking around, playing with your new magic kit, relaxing and shooting the breeze. And it’s like you’re teenagers again, but better. Because unlike when you were teenagers, you’re together. You’re happy. Dave isn’t stuck with an abusive brother anymore. Jade isn’t alone on an island, completely isolated. Rose is married to someone she genuinely loves, who loves her back. And you? You’re just happy that somehow, despite how different things are from how they used to be, nothing’s changed. Your friends are still who they’ve always been. And they’re still here for you. You love them.

It’s several hours later when they start to leave, full of cupcakes and popcorn, voices hoarse from laughing and singing and shouting, huge smiles on every face. Rose is the first to go, reluctantly admitting that she should check on Kanaya and the grubs (not that she really needs to worry, you all know Kanaya’s great with them). Jade goes next, hugging you once more and reminding you to call Jane. Dave stays a few hours longer than the others, but finally, he takes his leave too - though not before promising to try to hang out more often.

Everyone’s gone. You’re stuck at home, by yourself. But somehow, you’ve never felt less alone.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday to the boy! Fun fact, I actually started crying when I was writing this just thinking about the kids actually being happy. If you liked this, you can check out some of my other works [here](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilith_In_The_Garden) (oof I just realized they're all davekat) or check out my tumblr [here](https://lilithwiththefanfics.tumblr.com/)! Goodnight, and happy 4/13!


End file.
